The invention of the telephone stands out as one of the most significant technological advancements of the twentieth century. Telephones and telecommunications are indispensable in today's everyday life. Certainly, the telephone is one of the focal points of both home and business environments. However, for as long as there have been telephones, there has been the need to make certain information conveniently accessible to the telephone user. Many have tried to satisfy that need. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 936,254 which issued on Oct. 5, 1909, relates to an attachment for older style wooden wall telephone. The attachment supported a pad of writing paper. The pad could be used for jotting down notes or for writing phone numbers, memoranda, etc.
Other devices followed, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,965, which relates to a telephone indicia card holder for standard or conventional table top telephones. Conventional table top telephones have a base portion which includes a recess formed immediately beneath the cradle which retains the handset or receiver. The recess is accessible from the back of the telephone and is generally utilized for manually carrying the telephones. At the foremost extremity of the roof of the recess there is a projection adapted for manual engagement to prevent slippage of the fingers engaging the telephone base when carrying the telephone base by placing fingers in the recess and in contact with the roof. The patented card holder snaps onto the recess such that the information contained therein was displayed between the ridges forming the cradle for the receiver. Thus the information could be viewed when the handset or receiver was removed from the cradle.
A number of other inventions have also utilized this recess and the roof and ridge of conventional table top telephones to accommodate the attachment of accessories. These include rolodex style indexing accessories such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,425, a pad such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,164, and various telephone display devices such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,283,037 and D267,174. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. D242,808; 3,063,183; 3,184,548; 3,272,531; and 3,837,103.
Another accessory device which could be associated with a telephone is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. D215,054, which relates to a combined telephone message holder and advertising display card or similar article. However, the device appears to be permanently attached to the back of a telephone by an adhesive region which is affixed to the body of a telephone base.
Attempts have also been made to accommodate the more modern design of today's telephones, many of which do not have the cradle and carrying recess of the more traditional table top telephones just discussed. One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,383, which relates to an adjustable telephone message holder which is mounted on the top or cover portion of a telephone as opposed to within the carrying recess. Most of the devices previously described are, however, specifically limited, by their very design, to conventional table top telephones having a cradle for the receiver and a carrying recess disposed underneath the cradle.
Recent years have witnessed an explosion in the styles, shapes and varieties of telephone housing and many of these styles cannot accommodate telephone accessories such as those previously described. Some accessories require a permanent attachment or the affixation of certain material to the outer surface of a telephone which may be undesirable. Often such devices are permanent which precludes their use on, for example, leased or rented telephones. Still other devices are large and cumbersome and do not translate well into crowded office and home environments. Finally, many of the devices currently known are complicated and expensive to manufacture.
Along with the advent of new styles of telephone has come technology which has broadened the usefulness of telephones. Such services as multiple number memory have allowed for the automatic apportionment of phone call charges to specific billing accounts. Speed calling features allow the user, with the touch of a minimum number of buttons, to dial specifically identified persons. Interoffice exchanges allow for the dialing from one office to another without dialing the entire telephone number. With all these conveniences, however, the operator still needs some sort of sheet which contains a key reminding the user of, for example, the speed dial number for a particular person or the billing number for a particular client or the exchange number for someone in an office two floors below. Despite the number of accessories available and despite the technological advances in telephones, it is not unusual to find directories containing, for example, speed call numbers printed on a sheet of paper which is affixed to the wall behind the telephone, condensed and taped to the telephone or fixed on a table top adjacent to or beneath the telephone.
Thus, there remains a need for a convenient display device which is simple and easy to manufacture and which is removably associated with telephones of more current architecture. Such a device would need to be simple and convenient both in its presentation of indicia or the directory, its association with the telephone unit and the ability to change directories as information thereon is updated. A device which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture would also be highly desirable. Unlike the prior art, the present invention satisfies all of these needs.